Celebrate!

Hi!!!!!!! It's almost Noa's B-day, and we have a lot to d0! For her party, we are going to do a rockstar theme. Everyone is assigned a rockstar, and they come looking like him/her to the party. We're having an ice cream sundae bar, and pizza. Noa got first pick for rockstar, so say hello to Taylor Swift! We picked all the guests next. I got to pick last, Katy Perry! We decided Dad was going to be security, and Mom paparazzi. Wow, so much is going on... Thursday Alan and Molly are coming, which means I might be in Noa's bunk for a while..... It hasn't been that long since I last posted, so I'm going to be saying random things, like.... OMG the new Kane Chronicles is coming out May 3. Yesterday, me and Dad went to Champagne, and I tasted my first ever champagne! The verdict? Bitter, grape-y, not very pleasing. We're almost at 100 days of school, on April 5th we will have.... well, we'll have had 100 days of school. Not much else is going on. Wish me luck, let's hope I survive 100 days of school..... (photos: Noa's 100 day objects and me tasting champagne in Reims)

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

Home.....

I was just looking back on ALL the blogs, every single one, and I realized we have been in Paris for SO LONG. I was looking back, and one of the entrees said; In 3 days, we are moving from CT to Paris for a full year. Now, that year is almost up, I realize... there is practically NOTHING I'm going to miss! Sure, my creative writing class, but we do things in school, and I can always sign up for another one! Same with hip-hop. School... well let's just say GOOD RIDDANCE! I'm NOT going to miss Mme Panzani, maybe a little bit, like when she brought us crackers, but she is kinda scary. OK, so a little more than kinda. OK, so she's really scary when she's mad. But, honestly she hasn't given my friend Paulina detention yet, which is a MIRACLE! Another of my blogs said; So far school is OK, I like my french teacher... HA I know better by now. Wow.... I'm also realizing that I know SO much more French, and my mom's going to make me keep it up... UUUGH. OMG I'M SO EXCITED TO BE COMING BACK!!! I have 2 more weeks of school, a break, then 8 more weeks, and 9 days of it I'm going to be on a field trip with my class...... ok, so that's not a good thing. What kind of teacher do I have if she puts me and my friends in the same room? Especially with Paulina! Now, I know you probably don't know who Paulina is, and you probably don't care, but I can tell you she is CRAZY! INSANE! BONKERS! OFF HER ROCKER! The weird thing is she's allergic to nuts, I don't get HOW because she IS one! My dad just said," Do you want to do your hw?" I was like,"No" He was so confused, 'cause normally I'm really stressed about finishing homework and stuff, so I finally stopped toying with him and reminded him that I don't have school on Wednesday. That's one thing I'm going to miss. Although, I won't need the break as much. Anyways, I just WANT TO GO HOME!!!! I have nothing else to say, we're having a math test on Thursday, and I'm horrible at dividing decimals. Oh well. I don't know what else to talk about, so I'll just say," Until next time!!"

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS

PS: The pics I posted are of "the good old times".

Do I even have to say it?

As you can see, we spent sunday afternoon making Hamentaschen for Purim (which my daughter tells me is next weekend). The best recipe, if you're interested, is on the Martha Stewart totally waspy goyisha but don't want to alienate my jewish audience since I am still very closely linked with the entertainment industry web site. And I mean that sincerely... the recipe, I mean. It is an awesome recipe, there is orange zest in the dough (as I understand it the jews are not generally into 'zesting' but it is kosher, I checked with the Rabbi, otherwise known as our friend Eugene). The girls picked the fillings (which I believe are Kosher but not all traditional): apricot jam (my favorite), cherry jam (a little runny), lemon confiture, Nutella (we are in France), dark chocolate, peanut butter (recent gift from a visitor), PB & J and PB & Chocolate. Quite the assortment, huh? What made the day of baking extra fun was that I was well rested from a weekend without the children (thank you, Amy) as they both spent the weekend with friends and Ethan and I were able to spend the weekend relaxing together. What did we do, with all that was available to us, you ask? We ate at good restaurants, we saw good movies (American) and we explored a new neighborhood (Canal at Saint Martin, old neighborhood, new to us). What didn't we do, you ask? We didn't rush. We didn't yell or nag. We didn't cook or do laundry or shop. It was really a nice weekend. Not that we don't have nice weekends with the children (thank you, Amy), we do all the time. But this was different and a nice change of pace. And thank you to our new friends who had our kids for the weekend and told us it was their pleasure and that it was no problem at all. (I'm sure if we knew them a little better they wouldn't have lied to our faces but since we are all still playing nice, they did, so thank you.) Until next time...

Prepare the Cabin for Take-Off

Today the smell is decidedly me. I admit it, after a red eye back from CT, I stink. I'm ripe. I need a shower. It was a bitter sweet goodbye yesterday, as we were all sad to leave our very good friends who welcomed us all week long with parties, playdates, sleepovers and Martinis. It was really a non stop fiesta del grande. And the week before we got to have some super nice hang out time with cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandparents and friends. However, daddy was waiting patiently in Paris for us to come home to him and we missed him too, so last night we boarded the red eye on Air France to bring us back to the City of Lights, otherwise known as the The City of Dog Poo. Knowing we would be back in the Good ol' US of A in five months helped soften the blow a bit. So, sad to have left but happy to be in my own bed (with my husband, instead of my 6 year old), use my own shower and visit my cheese guy.

I've stolen the computer from my mom, locked her up, and gagged her in the closet. Just kidding! Now, I probably don't have to write about my vacation, because everybody who reads this blog, I've seen over the vacations, and they've already heard the 411, the most important stuff. I will, however, write about the plane ride, and our arrival, and... I could go on and on, and on, but I'll just get to the point. So, anyway we say our good-byes to the McHughs, and Warren drove us to the Maxwells so we could hitch a ride to the airport. The ride was long, and I think I might have slept, but I'm not sure. When we got to the airport, it was practically deserted. The guy at the baggage check-point just opened one of those ropes, and we went straight to the front. The security the line was zero, zip, zulch as well. afterwards we went to get paninis, and then the toy store, and then I wanted to get my nails done, but it was $25, so mom said no, and then she fretted over whether or not she was going to get one of those neck rest thingies.... she ended up getting one for her and me. When we finally boarded the airplane, I was ready to take off, and by the time we actually did, I had read about 1/4 of my book, possibly more, and I was switching off with my french book that I have to read for Monday. After the plane had taken off, and we had some turbulence the captain, or one of the flight attendants announced that someone was not feeling well, and they were looking for a doctor. The guy next to mom said something about passing out. I didn't sleep a wink. Noa slept like a log, she had her head in mom's lap, and her feet in my face, pleasant, isn't it? Anyway, I needed more space than Noa, and she was taking up about half of my seat, so to me, sleeping didn't seem like an option. I actually slept through dinner, and I wasn't awake when they served breakfast, but besides that, I was UP and READING. My mom and dad are cutting my reading time to a limit of 1 hour on weekdays, and 2 on weekends and Wednesdays. I was so sad when I heard, I started crying, no joke. Ask my mother. Anyway, we're having dinner soon, so I gotta go! I'll write as soon as possible!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS

I Surrender!

How's it going people? It's been a while, I realize, but at the top of my lame excuses list is I am sick! Finally, after everyone else in our family had seemingly succumb to some type of foreign germ (for some of us, more than one), it was finally my turn to surrender. It all started a week ago friday, when my throat was feeling a little but itchy. (Ironically, I had woken up that morning, looked in the mirror and said to myself, 'I can't believe I haven't gotten sick here yet'. Big Mistake.) So the plan for the weekend was to go to the Loire Valley and see some Chateaux. Saturday morning , we piled into our rental car and headed south. The first place we stopped was at the Chateau of Cheverny. The fun thing about this place is that they keep a hunting kennel with about 100 dogs and during hunting season (I'm sure there are several throughout the year) they take the dogs out on a hunt. Let me tell you though, 100 french hunting dogs make a lot of french merde! The other super cool thing about this Chateau is that it was heated inside. We could comfortably wander around the furnished rooms, admiring the paintings, dishes and armor. When we left, it was lunch time and we searched for a place to eat. We knew that January was not high season for the Loire Valley, so that meant the Chateaux would be less crowded but we hadn't counted on not finding any open restaurants. Lucky for us, I had booked a room for the night with a view of the Chateau at Chambord and I knew they had a lovely restaurant. So after a few failed attempts at finding something a little less formal in town (I use the word town loosely, but having just purchased a house in Chester, I'm hardly one to talk) and getting a little bit lost with the help of Mabel, our GPS assist, we made it to the lovely, if not a little run down Hotel Saint Michel in Chambord. And they do have a wonderful restaurant and were willing to serve us some of their beautiful cuisine. After a nice lunch, we went to explore the Chateau Chambord which is an enormous medieval chateau and certainly not heated. They did have an enormous fireplace going on each floor but that was only for temporary thawing out your fingers and hands before exploring deeper into the many nooks and crannies of the huge stone castle. After we finished with that we went to warm up for a bit in our room and then it was time to go to the bar for a drink and to dinner. (All the while I am trying to nurse this cold, let's not forget about poor old me). The next morning we drove to visit Chenonceau, which is a gorgeous structure built right over a river, lending itself to amazing views both of the chateau and from the chateau. Again, however, not heated. We toured the place with our gloves and hats on, visited the cool kitchens and walked the gardens and labyrinth for a bit until we were too frozen to stay outside (or inside for that matter) any longer. After lunch at a local cafe (Chenonceau is probably the most visited of the Chateaux so they had to have something open in town for starving tourists) we decided we would head back to Paris. The next day, I had a tour of the Concierge where Marie Antoinette, among others, was held prisoner during the French revolution. The tour was great but the building, originally built in 1310, was not heated. By Tuesday, my cold had gotten so bad that I decided to cancel my tour that day titled, 'Meet the Cheese Maker'. Can you imagine having to cancel something like that? I was heart broken. By Wednesday I was in bed and have remained there ever since (can you actually hear a miniature violin playing?) There is my big story for my big lame excuse about why I haven't written in the blog. I'm sure I will recover soon, and yes, if I'm not better by monday, I will go see a doctor but I swear it was just a cold! (First 2 photos are Chenonceau, next 2 are from Cheverny and the last is from Chambord).

Updates

Hi everyone who's reading the blog(so, basically, it WOULD mean everyone, 'cause I'm only saying this to the people who are reading... but I won't go any further in that direction.)! My life here is great (not really), at least, it's better than before. I'm just starting to speak en Francais, I don't wake up wanting to throw-up, and we're going to CA and CT soon (that's the best part!)! My mom found me a french girl who is my age, and lives in the building, and when she told me about it, she was jumping up and down and was like," This is so great! She can like, call you, and say 'I'm going out for coffee!'" But then I pointed out that mom doesn't let me drink coffee. I might enter an english spelling bee, and I might take an optional french math test. I seem to love tests, if you didn't know me, you'd think I do them for fun! I went ice skating with my friend Daria today in La Tour Eiffel; # of times I fell on my butt: 0 #of times I freaked out: 9000000000000000000000009. Nothing is going on here, I did OK on my tests... 54.5/ 60 for french... etc. We are having a 9 or 10 day field trip in... May or June I think... but that's all thats happening here. See you soon!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS

New Years Revelations

Happy New Year! Bonne Annee! Joyeux Saint Sylvestre and all the rest! After returning from the Alps back to Paris with a clear head and tired thighs, I have had some realisations. My daughter Lili is not liking Paris. I knew from the beginning that this would not be an easy transition for her but I was hoping that by the Christmas break, things would have started looking up for her. And I know that it's not too late. She is doing well in school, although she is extremely anxious about going and doesn't talk a lot in class. She understands a lot of french but she's scared to make a mistake when she speaks. At home, she can put together a sentence without breaking a sweat. Mme. Panzani, her teacher, is nice and very charismatic. But as we all know, sometimes our charismatic leaders can turn out to be a little bit scary and very intimidating sometimes. She has friends and is social but she never has anything positive to say about being here. She always talks about going home or going to California. Again, I know things can and hopefully will turn around for her but in the mean time, it's hard... on all of us. As parents, we would do anything to make it better (except, of course, send her home) and we spend a lot of time and energy trying to do that. As for Noa, although she seems perfectly happy here, she likes to mimic Lili's behavior, so then we have to hear it from her too. I've also realized that sending your kids to a bilingual school means exactly that, it's bilingual. There is a lot of english. In fact, all the kids are expected to speak english after the first grade. This is part of the reason it's hard for Lili to find kids to speak french to, they all speak english and most of them do it very well! We definitely didn't want to send them to public school but it would be nice if there was a way for them to practice what they've learned, which is really a lot! Our plan of attack is this: We're looking to hire someone, like a tutor, to talk and play with Lili so she gets more comfortable opening her mouth in class. You would think it would be easy for us just to find some french kids for her to play with. But for whatever reason, it's not as easy as it seems. We did try to sign up for some classes at the community center because we thought she could meet kids through that but it turns out people sign up for these classes in June, so we never even had a chance. I've also realized, for a number of reasons, that it would have been nice if we could have stayed for 2 years instead of just one. Don't freak out, we're not going to stay (I don't think... no really, we're not). We're only just now getting the hang of how things work and settling into our new big city life. We're starting to figure out who we like and want to spend more time with. The girls will just be getting really comfortable with their french by the time we have to leave. And there is so much to do, so much to see and just not enough time! I still think it's great that we have this opportunity to come, even if just for one year but I think it's a little sad that we can't stay for two. I know we still have 6 months left and we've only just reached the halfway point but it feels like the second half is going to be like a slide into summer. Like we spent the fall climbing up the ladder to the top and now the ride down is going to be so quick. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining because, believe me, I still think it's great that we are here but if you really want to get to the heart of What's that smell, you need to be able to accept the bad smells as well as enjoying the good. (The photos posted are of Chloe getting ready for our "party" on New Year's Eve. She was super excited!)